


reaching for the sun (you, you, you)

by moonswords



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Bisexual Piper McLean, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Jason Grace is a Good Friend, Light Angst, M/M, Nico has internalized homophobia, Piper McLean is a Good Friend, Post-Canon, They love each other, Will doesn't label his sexuality, post blood of olympus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonswords/pseuds/moonswords
Summary: He's the sun, Nico thought. He wanted to say it, but he didn’t. Instead, he just looked at Will, at his sunshine colored hair and skin and at his celestial-blue eyes. Will looked at him back, smiling. You're the sun, Nico thought again, cause his smile was enough to make the day start over again, with a beautiful, golden morning."I kinda like you, di Angelo. And I know you kinda like me too, even if you don't say it”, Will said, his fingers brushing Nico’s hand.Nico didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t formulate a sentence to say. So he decided there are things words can’t express, and so he leaned in and kissed Will Solace.And when Will kissed him back, he felt like he wouldn’t have to run away ever again.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 7
Kudos: 158





	reaching for the sun (you, you, you)

**Author's Note:**

> hi there!!! so, this is my first solangelo fic on this site... i just had to write about them. ive currently been obssessed with riordanverse (quarentine, man), so heres my contribution to the solangelo fandom!!  
> english is not my first language, so please mind any mistakes!

_**I.** _

The infirmary was crowded. People breathing heavily. People almost dying. People hurt. Dry blood on the floor. The smell of war still fresh in their noses. 

Still, Will handled it so calmly. He talked softly to one person with deep cuts all over their legs. He promised them they will be alright. He moved to another and did the same. He smiled, and his hands worked fast and efficiently when it came to healing. He knew what dots to connect to get people back together. Knew how to make them hopeful. Will Solace was the best healer in camp, that's a fact.

Nico watched it, fascinated. Laying in his hospital bed that Will insisted to drag him to, all he could do is watch and wait for his turn to get some of the doctor's attention. Will's order was that Nico would be treated by him specifically.

"Hi there", Will greeted him, after an hour of waiting, "how are you feeling?

"Better", Nico said and it's not a lie, "more physical."

"That's good", Will said, sitting at his bed, and putting the back of his hand on his forehead. Nico flinched at the sudden touch, "you're not abnormally cold anymore. And you don't feel like you're about to subside into a blob of darkness anymore."

Nico scoffed a little because he felt like a blob of darkness whether he was about to physically become one or not.

"That's good, I guess. When I can shadow travel again?"

Will looked at him in reprehend, serious, probably wondering why he wanted to die so badly. The truth is that disappearing into shadows had become an escape for Nico. Like Cupid wisely pointed out, he hid among the dead, but after so many years lost with only the dark to make him company, he found a home in the shadows. He could stay there, quiet, no one around to see him or ask anything, and find some sort of twisted peace.

"You need to learn how to control your powers better", Will stated, "they draw your energy too much. You have to avoid them as much as you can in the next months to recover completely, but -"

"Next _months?_ ", Nico interrupted.

"Yes, Nico. Also, we have to take care of that werewolves scratches in your arm", Will said, and Nico looked at him, with his best daring look, but apparently, Will was immune to that, "don't look at me like that. I'm your _doctor_. It's my duty. Besides, I'm not scared of you, di Angelo."

Nico raised an eyebrow and studied Solace carefully. He was not lying. That annoying Apollo's kid was not capable of lying. Nico was curious, and his eyes shone with some sort of challenge like he was inviting Will to come and test him, to get to know him, to _see_ him wide open and inside out and sees if he would change his mind.

Will didn't look away even once. His eyes, determined and annoying and _so_ fucking stubborn, accepted the challenge.

"You should be. I could send you straight to the underworld and stuff", Nico said, slowly, but Will just smiled.

"Take a look at your situation right now. You're a patient, I'm your doctor. You're under _my_ care, and you're not in any condition to fight. I confiscated your sword, remember? I wouldn't let you. I have a reputation to maintain"

Nico was caught off guard. Will didn't hesitate to ruin Nico’s fearsome pose. He didn't step back or flinched. Of course, Nico didn't mean it. He wouldn't hurt someone who did nothing wrong. He especially wouldn't hurt Will Solace, who looked like _life_ itself.

"I hate you", was all he managed to say, after all.

Will smiled brightly like the piece of the sun he was.

"We'll see", he said and left to check on another patient, leaving Nico alone with the thought of him and a little bit more of sunshine, but Nico hated the heat of it.

_**II**_.

Three days can pass pretty quickly when you're in the hospital. Nico felt weird for, deep down, wanting to stay more.

"There", Will said, taking out the stitches he made in Nico’s very badly infected werewolves scratches (Nico still hadn’t explained how he got them), “it’ll scar, but you’ll survive.”

Nico nodded. _I could survive anything if you would be there to heal me later_ , he thought, cause it’s true. Will could give anything life. He could give anything a second chance. He could make anyone better.

In the last three days, Will made Nico go from _I’m literally about to become a shadow_ to an almost normal, physical human being. That was the most physical contact he had with anyone, ever. Will’s hands were warm, strong, and efficient. Nico’s skin ran cold most of the time, and the conflict between them felt like a fight.

“Thanks”, he said without thinking.

“It’s my job”, Will smiled softly at him, cleaning the almost completely healed bruises with ambrosia.

“No”, Nico started. What he was thankful for, exactly? Many things. He was thankful for Will taking care of him, even if it was his job. He was thankful that Will didn’t hate him after the Octavian incident. Thankful for how he talked to Nico like he was a normal person and not a ghoul about to lose control. He couldn’t choose what to say. “I mean, yes. But… anyway. Thank you.”

“It’s been a pleasure”, Will said, and finished cleaning his cuts, “I kinda want to punch you in the face so you would have to stay here a little longer”

Nico raised his eyebrows. 

“You couldn’t punch me that hard.”

“I’m the doctor here. I’m the one who says how bad is an injury”, Will said like it was nothing and smiled but he was _flirting_ or it was just Nico imagination and how could he think someone like Will Solace would flirt with him, Will Solace doesn’t like boys he is not gross and even if he did why would he like Nico di Angelo -

Nico's briefly panicked expression made Will's crooked smile oscillate for a moment.

“Everything okay?”, he asked, in a low tone (his doctor's voice.) 

“It’s fine”, Nico said quickly. Too quickly. Damn it. “I should probably go by now.”

Will nodded, but his expression was still worried (furrowed brows, a little tremor on the very corner of his mouth. Nico had seen that face a lot on him in the last few days).

“Okay.’’

Nico got up quickly, too quickly, again. He went to the door, walking fast and hoping Will had already turned his attention to someone else.

“Nico!”, his voice called him, still, and he wanted to ignore, but it was almost physically painful.

“Yes, Solace?”

“Promise you will keep in the touch?”

No. Nico couldn’t promise him that. He couldn’t let Will any closer. It was already getting hard to breathe. 

(But he didn’t want him away).

So he said:

“Okay.”

“Swear on the Styx and everything?”

No. _You don’t want to be around me._

Nico wanted to be around him, tho.

“Yeah. Swear on the Styx and everything.”

He could almost hear the goddess laughing at his face when he walked away, followed by an impossible promise to Cabin 13.

_**III**_.

The rest of the summer went by smoothly. The weather was not too hot or too dry; the winds were calm and fresh, and the smell of strawberries was like the reassurance of safeness. Later afternoons, in the sunset time, were the best. It was almost like the sun was apologizing for having to go away soon, and Nico felt more than ever like a kid in Italy. He didn’t remember much from his home country except some senses of deja-vus and very specific memories. He remembered the sun, bright and yellow and easy in the morning, and gentle and pink and orange in the twilight, like in the Camp-Half Blood.

(It was the star-king, anyway. Everywhere in the world you go, the sun will always be there to greet you, Nico pondered).

He almost felt okay. 

(Still, he hated the heat of it).

Jason proved himself to be a really good friend. He always included Nico in things and made sure he was fine and eating healthily (even if Nico had become pretty good at lying about that). He had started working on his project to build a tribute to every deity, and which he was very enthusiastic about, but Nico knew he would still struggle with grief. Nico could feel it. Sometimes he looked at the sky hopefully, like he was waiting for Leo to come back in Festus, a mischievous smile on his lips, and an awful joke to tell.

Still, he was so focused and put-together. He was a born leader. And he (tried to) took care of Nico.

“Have you gotten at least 8 hours of sleep, dude?”, he asked, when he saw Nico crawl out of Cabin 13 with the restless face of someone who had been awake all night due to nightmares (which he was).

“You don’t need to babysit me, you know”, Nico mumbled, sitting next to him on the stairs of Zeus' cabin, where Jason stayed, alone (that was a kind of shared solitude they had. Two kids of the Big Three alone in their cabins).

“It’s not babysitting. It’s caring, man. You should at least get some breakfast. I think Will Solace saved some for you.”

At that point, Nico was a little groggy, still, but when he heard the mention of Will’s name he felt suddenly very awake and aware.

“What? Why would he do that?”, Nico asked, disbelieved. 

Jason smiled like he noticed something Nico hadn’t.

“Don’t know”, he shrugged, “he wants to see you. Think you’ve been avoiding him. Something about a promise-on-the-Styx thing.”

Oh, yeah. That. Nico had been visited by the goddess of the river herself in his dreams. _"You swore by name, son of Hades. Do not dishonor me, or you'll pay. You still have time"_ and that sort of stuff. But he couldn't bring himself to stare into Will's eyes again. How could he? Will was the sun and Nico was the stupid cloud that would cover its beauty. Besides, if Will _knew_ , he would probably hate Nico.

"It's okay, you know", Jason said, softly.

"What?"

"Being gay."

Cool. Now Jason Grace, besides being the son of Jupiter and one of the saviors of the world, could read minds.

"It's… it's not…", Nico started but he didn't know what he wanted to say. So instead, he just looked at the white marble of the columns.

"I know you're from another century that being gay was a terrible secret that had to be hidden", Jason continued, in a soft and careful tone, like a teacher, "but things changed. People are more open-minded. I won't lie to you and say homophobia is over, but it is way better. Besides, you're a _greek_ demigod. If anyone is going to be okay with it, it's the people in this camp."

Nico listened in silence and kept in silence after Jason finished. He felt like Jason didn't need him to answer. He was just stating a fact.

"Trust me, Nico. You're not going to be rejected by any of us, okay?"

Nico looked at him and saw the kindness and the protection in his friend's eyes and he couldn't bring himself to disagree.

"Thanks, Jason."

They stayed in comfortable silence, staring at the strawberries fields, where the satyr was already chasing the nymphs.

"I confessed to Percy", Nico said out of the blue.

Jason looked at him, blue eyes wide in surprise.

"Really?"

Nico moved the ring in his finger in nervousness. Jason had assured him many times that it was okay, and he would keep saying until Nico believed, but it was still so weird to talk about.

"Yeah. It was kind of a letting it go thing. I need to… to accept myself, as you said. And I need to let go of everything Percy represented. Those years of loneliness, you know."

Jason nodded in solidarity.

"Did it make you feel better?"

"Sort of. It helped."

Jupiter's son smiled.

"I'm so happy for you, Nico. You deserve to be happy, okay? Don't forget that", he looked at his wristwatch, "oh, damn! Sorry, I have to go. I have a meeting with Chiron to discuss the new cabins thing. See you around."

"See ya."

Jason got up, and as Nico watched his tall silhouette disappear into the Big House, he thought about what he said.

_You deserve to be happy._

Did he?

(Sometimes, he selfishly thought that yes.)

So he got up and went to look for Will Solace with his breakfast.

_**IV**_.

If there was something certain about the world they lived in, some sort of universal truth, it was this: Nico di Angelo _sucked_ at archery.

He didn't mind it much. He wasn't a fan of archery, to be honest (it reminded him so much of the Hunters. It reminded him of Bianca). He was way better with his sword. Not exactly in fencing, like Percy, but with the Underworld powers the sword had. That was something he knew, something he could control, unlike that stupid bow.

But he needed to go to the archery class. _"It is important for you as a son of the Big Three to know at least the basics, Nico",_ Chiron ordered. 

Will Solace's face brightened up the moment he saw Nico walk in the forest, and he missed the shoot he was trying to hit, and almost killed a Satyr.

"Hey, watch out!", the satyr exclaimed and left the class complaining about campers who didn't care about nature.

"Nico di Angelo!", Will said.

"Hey, Solace."

Chiron was explaining the best ways to correctly shoot at a very long distance. The other Apollo's kids were eagerly listening, but Will seemed annoyed at his bow, not paying too much attention.

"I hate this class", he confessed like it was a very dark secret from his past he was ashamed of.

"What? Why? Aren't you supposed to be the best at archery?"

"That's the problem. I suck at it."

Nico looked at him, and he probably looked disbelieved. Will put an arrow in his bow, concentrated, and shot it. He missed it badly, and the arrow ended up stuck in one of the threes 3 meters away from the target. 

"Oh", Nico said. 

Will sighed and put his over his shoulders

"I'm no good at battle. I'm a disappointment to my dad, probably."

These words hit Nico like a knife. Will Solace, who could make anything better just by touching it; Will Solace, that risked his own life twice in wars to save other people’s. Will, who looked and spoke like the sun, who called a heavily armed roman prætor an _anemic loser,_ who had the prettiest blue sky eyes Nico had ever seen, and his touch and presence was enough to calm down the angriest Ares' kid, thought he was a disappointment because he couldn't shoot a bow. Nico couldn't even _process_ what he was hearing.

"Don't ever say that again", Nico snapped, more angrily than he intended, "you're… the last thing you are is a disappointment. For anyone."

Will looked desolated, staring sadly at his siblings who shoot the arrows like they were nothing.

"It's just that… all my brothers and sisters are good at archery, and other Apollo's things too. Austin plays many instruments. Kayla has an amazing singing voice. Jerry is the best archer _and_ is amazing at poetry. And I just got… healing. Not that it's bad, I love it. It's just that anyone can be a doctor. Any mortal. I'm not special."

Well, that was bullshit. Like, straight-up bullshit. First of all, not everyone could be a healer. Nico sure as hell couldn't. And besides, Nico doubted anyone else in the world could do it like Will Solace. He had magic in his hands; like if they were enchanted, like if he was Midas and everything he touched turned to gold. Will didn't just heal people, he made them stronger. Not one soul in the whole world could have the kindness of bringing light to darkness like Will. 

"Not like you", he whispered under his breath. 

"What?"

Nico breathed in, filling his lungs with air.

"I mean… anyone can be anything. Like, Piper can sing amazingly. Connor can play the acoustic guitar. Anyone can learn an instrument, and anyone can sing well. Anyone can take archery lessons. Any mortal can study to become a doctor, too. But not like you. You _are_ gifted."

Will looked at Nico and smiled a little like he was trying to unveil the meaning behind those words, and for a moment Nico held his breath, afraid he had gone too far, afraid Will could read between the little lines, and find out the truth about them. But instead, he just nodded and his eyes skylar glowed and he seemed to be filled with determination again.

"Thanks, Nico." 

Nico couldn't help a little smile in the corner of his mouth.

"If Apollo is disappointed at you for not singing well, then he's an idiot."

Will grinned.

"Careful. I would hate to see you get turned into a cornstalk again."

Nico gasped and widened his eyes. Will had the nerve to laugh.

"How do you even _know_ about that?"

"A roman told me."

Nico scoffed. He would kill Frank the next time he sees him. 

Will tried to shoot with his bow again and missed, but his time he just laughed it away. Nico tried to, but he managed to accidentally hit a dryad in the leg. He hid in the shadows while Will and Chiron treated the nymph (who knew _a lot_ of curse words in ancient greek), to avoid getting turned into a plant again, and watched while Will made his magic with the first-aid kit.

(Not like him. No one could do it like him).

_**V.** _

Not everything was good. 

In his dreams, he felt the same sort of hopelessness. A dark, dark, dark room. Not the night kind of dark. Not the lights-turned-off kind of dark. A darkness that invaded his bones, where there was _nothing_ , and he felt like nothing, nothing, nothing. He couldn’t stand on his feet, cause there was no floor to stand on, there was no ceiling to look at. He just floated in the darkness like a fetus in a uterus, waiting to get born, but in that place, he was sure there was no escape. Not even death.

Then, a river. A fire river, boiling, and Nico fell from darkness to drown in it. The heat was unbearable. It burned, burned, burned him _deeply_ , into his skin, and he was pretty sure his face was melting and there was nothing he could do about it. 

Then darkness again, a blue darkness this time. The walls of the cave he was in glowed like radiation. This time, it was cold. It _cut_ him like thousands of knives into his bones. He was being shattered into pieces. 

_Just kill me already,_ he thought. 

_"Death is a relief"_ , a voice said, and he felt like crying when he noticed it was Bianca's, " _a rest. You didn't let me rest, did you, Nico? I had to run away from you. Now you can't rest, like me. You have to stay awake, forever."_

He woke up screaming alone in his cabin. It was still dark and cold and his brain was still not discerning from dream and reality, and the place he was was so _obscure_ it could be Tartarus. 

_It's not Tartarus it's my cabin at Camp-Half Blood and I’m not on the Underworld it's my cabin next to me is Jason's and Percy's cabins and they're right there it's not Tartarus -_

But he couldn't even make himself believe that. So he tripped out of the bed, put on the first shirt he found and his jacket, and went outside.

He sat quietly next to the strawberries fields, watching the trees being kissed by the wind. The air was a little cold and that made him shiver but it was okay. A nice kind of cold. Not Tartarus. It was Camp-Half Blood. 

He breathed in, breathed out, trying to calm himself down. He thought he was going to pass out when he felt a presence behind him. He quickly reached for his sword, noticed he left at his cabin and _panicked,_ and started calculating if he could shadow travel without dying and raise some skeletons to fight -

"Wow, calm down there", the voice was serene and smooth like silk, and he immediately felt himself calmer, involved by the charm. "It's just me."

Piper sat next to him, wearing a pink pajama with ponies on it, and red flip-flops. She didn't have the feather she used constantly, and her hair was all loose, without the tiny braids. Her multi-colored eyes seemed to shine dully.

"Bad dream?", she asked, and he nodded. 

She sighed.

"Me too."

They sat in quietness for a moment. Piper's presence was calming, and his brain was getting back to reality.

"What was yours about?", she asked.

"Huh?"

"Your nightmare. What was it about?"

Nico didn't know Piper very well. In fact, from all the people in the Argo II’s crew, she was the one he had less contact with. He could easily say it was none of her business, but looking at her, he just didn't have the guts to be rude.

"Tartarus", he whispered, and she nodded. Not a trace of pity in her face, but genuine understanding. "How about you?"

"Leo."

He felt a sudden wave of grief. Not his, but Piper's. He felt her guilt and her sadness, and how she wished she could protect him or convince him otherwise, or just wishing he was alive. 

"Piper", he said, "if I tell you a secret, will you promise me you won't tell anyone?"

Piper looked at him with curiosity.

"I promise."

Nico played with the ring in his finger, and the tip bone emerged from the mud close to them. 

"Leo… he died. But… but I felt something _different_. Like… like if there is a spark."

"A spark?"

"Of life", he explained, "like there is still a chance."

Her smile brightened immensely. 

"But this is why it has to be a secret, okay? I don't want to give hopes for anyone and disappoint them in the end", he said, and she nodded happily and _hugged_ him.

He didn't have the guts to pull away.

"Okay, okay", she said and giggled, "that bastard. Not even death can stop him."

Nico couldn't help but smile a bit.

“Also”, she added, “how are things going with Will Solace?”

Nico almost fell backwards.

“ _What?_ ”

“You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t - why would I… why would I”, he gasped, wordless, and for a son of Hades he sure was a terrible liar. “How do you… how do you know _that?_ ”

For a moment, he worried Jason might have told her, but she just shrugged. 

“It’s an Aphrodite’s kid thing. We can feel this kind of stuff.”

Nico stared at her.

“I’m bi”, she said, out of the blue, looking in his eyes. She was so confident saying that, with no fear, like the statement of a fact, but Nico still felt surprised.

“Really?”

She nodded. 

“I figured it out some time ago. Listen, I can feel you’re insecure about it. You’re the first person I’m telling this to, but I just want you to know there’s more queer kids here than you think”, she smiled like she knew something Nico didn’t and people had been doing that a lot recently. “No one in the Aphrodite’s cabin is straight. Even Drew. We’re the sons and daughters of the goddess of love. Love comes in all shapes."

Nico thought about the love he felt for Bianca (the hurtful, painful kind of love that comes with grief), the love he felt for Hazel (the fraternal, warm kind of love that comes with family), the love he felt for Reyna (the determined, stable love that comes after going through a lot with someone), and even the love he felt for Jason (the relief, the freedom of a loving friendship after so many days alone in the dark). Loves comes in all shapes.

"Thanks, Piper", he said. 

"You're welcome. Also, you should tell him."

Nico froze still.

"Aphrodite's advice".

She was so certain about it and so confident, and she smiled so vividly as she knew him, and how could Nico have the guts to argue with someone like that.

She yawned.

"I'm going back to bed. Go to, before the harpies find you."

She got up and headed back to Cabin 10. Nico stayed there for a little while more before going to bed too.

He had no more nightmares that night. 

_**VI**_.

"Hey, di Angelo! Come here!", he heard Jason screaming. He was swimming in the river, and Percy was there too wet hair falling in front of his sea-green eyes, shirtless. Piper and Annabeth watched them, sitting on a fallen trunk, with an “our-boyfriends-are-idiots” expression. 

“What?”. He didn’t even feel the need to stare at Percy (not anymore).

“We’re having a debate. In these conditions, who do you think would win in a fight?”, Percy asked, and Nico looked at him like he was insane.

“Come on, boys”, Piper said, “don’t drag Nico into this.”

“But he is the ultimate judge! It’s a Big Three’s Kid thing”, Percy protested.

“I trust Nico’s judgment deeply”, Jason added, worryless swimming on his back. 

“Nico, come on, I’m the obvious answer, right? It’s a river. I control water.”

“Water conducts electricity, tho”, Annabeth said. 

“What? I thought you were on my side! You’re my girlfriend”, Percy potted.

“You need someone to burst your bubble, Seaweed Brain.”

“Ha! Suck it, Percy”, Jason laughed, slightly pushing Percy on his shoulder, “I would fry you.”

“I would drown you.”

“I almost killed you in Kansas!”

“No, _I_ almost killed _you_.”

“How many times do we have to talk about this-”

“Hey, heroes”, Annabeth interrupted, “why don’t you let Nico decide since you called him a hero for it?”

“Agreed”, Piper added.

Nico looked at them. He didn’t want to have the last word on that - deep down, he was relieved Percy and Jason weren’t actually rivals, for the world’s sake. 

“Piper”, he said.

The two of them looked at him like he just said he murdered their families.

“What?”

Annabeth smiled and high-fived him. Piper did the same.

“She could easily use charm to make you give up the battle, or do what she asked you to do. She saved you two in Kansas, in the end.”

“I approve this decision”, Piper said.

“But-”

“No ifs or buts, Jackson. Nico’s decision is final”, Annabeth grinned. “Piper would not only win, but she would make _you_ kick your own ass.”

“I could live with that”, Jason said, “having your ass kicked by your girlfriend is something to be proud of.”

Piper blew him a kiss, and he smiled. Percy mumbled something about leaving humanity to move definitely with the fish and submerged into the river.

_**VII**_.

"One more step", he said, wielding his sword, "and I'll do it."

"You wouldn't actually do it", Will snapped back.

"Fucking try me, Solace."

Will ran his eyes around the area, probably looking for an opening in Nico's defense. An arrow flew by Will's side, aiming for Nico, but he cut it in half with his sword without even looking. 

Kayla and Jerry were probably lurking somewhere around there. They were the only ones that managed to get past Hermes' traps. Will, somehow, made it to the flag area, that Nico was responsible to guard it. 

"Well, you shouldn't. I told you to stop with the underworldly stuff, remember?", Will said, walking slowly around, still waiting for a breach in Nico's guard. "You should listen to your doctor."

"You're not my doctor anymore. This is war and you're the enemy."

Will gave him a crooked smile that almost put Nico's defense down. Almost.

Nico was aware that Will was just a distraction. Jerry and Kayla were waiting for him to be focused enough on Will so they could attack from behind. That was the dirty way Apollo's kids fought then, but Nico didn't care much for morals either. 

"You know, if you surrender now, I'll have mercy on you", Will said.

Nico scoffed.

"Your battle strategy is to run around."

"You have no idea how much being hit by a human in high velocity can hurt."

They were staring intensely at each other, Will's vivid blue eyes so focused, moving in circles, with Nico's black sword pointing at Will's every step. He was wearing green clothing and his face was covered in green painting, trying to camouflage, but he always forgot to cover his blonde hair, and that didn't do much.

Nico noticed Will subtly looking to the side. He turned around right in time before being surprised by Kayla, and he hit the ground with his sword, opening a crack from where old skeletons-soldiers came out.

 _"Serve me",_ he ordered, and the skeletons started to surround Kayla. Jerry came out of the woods to help her, but Nico's skeletons had the number advantage, and their long-distance weapons made it more difficult for them to fight.

Will was, well. Running around. He tried to attack Nico from behind, but Nico quickly struck back, and in a blur, Will Solace ended up laying on his back on the ground, with Nico's sword pointed at his throat. Nico smiled smugly. 

"This is my revenge for when you said I couldn't take you on a fight."

"I never said that-"

"Whatever, Solace. _You_ are in no condition to fight right now."

"Okay, Nico, I take it back-"

Will tried to move, but Nico put one of his feet on his chest and slightly touched the sharp tip of his sword on Will's throat. Will gasped a bit, eyes wide in surprise.

"You're not going anywhere."

"WE WON!", he heard Percy screaming, "SUCK IT, GRACE!"

At that point, Kayla and Jerry were finishing the last skeletons. Nico took his sword away from Will, and his feet from his chest. Will quickly got up. 

"Oh, man!", Jerry groaned, "now I owe Jake 15 bucks."

"You should stop betting money on lost causes", Kayla gasped, out of breath, and looked at Nico, "good fight."

"Thanks."

"You have no moral compass", Will said.

"I know", he answered.

"You will pay for this."

"You could try."

"You just can't wait for it, di Angelo."

"Will!", someone called, "come here, now! Nyssa got her hand slashed!"

"I gotta go", he said, serious, and for a moment Nico worried he went too far, "Jerry, Kayla, come with me", but then he looked at Nico and smiled mischievously, "see you at dinner?"

"Yeah, I guess."

At dinner, Nico sat alone at his table, like usual. Percy and Jason also ate alone (a shared kind of solitude). Will was with his siblings, laughing and singing, and he looked so pretty over the fire's light. Nico starred, cause that was all he could do.

After, he was sitting alone in the stairs of the black marble of cabin 13, watching Hermes' cabin and Athena's playing a card game at distance. Annabeth looked like she was winning. 

"Hey", he heard someone saying, "can I sit here?"

It was Will. He had taken a shower and was wearing the Camp Half-Blood shirt underneath a green flannel. Nico nodded, and they sat there, side by side.

"Can I ask you something?"

Nico looked at him, his mind already going wild at the possibilities.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"You can ask. But if I'll answer or not, it depends on the question."

Will shrugged.

"I suppose that's fair. Alright, then. Why did you want to leave Camp-Half Blood so badly?"

Nico pondered all the ways he could answer this question. _I never wanted to see Percy Jackson again. I wanted to disappear and start over somewhere else. I hated being different. I hate being in a place where everyone else was happy and I was the only one miserable._

He decided, for once, to be honest.

“When I was on Argo II… something happened in Italy. Something that made me expose a thing about myself I wasn’t ready to confess”, he sighed, “and I thought if I disappeared, I could still hide from other people like I always do.”

“But you decided to stay”, Will added gently.

“Yes. I’m trying to stop running away from things that scare me. Disappearing into the Underworld again… I just don’t want to be lonely anymore.”

The honesty of that statement scared Nico. It was a raw, naked truth. Honesty used to cut him like a celestial-gold sword, used to choke him till he was out of breath. He chose a path of secrets and lies. If he ran as fast he could, he wouldn’t have to face things. He wouldn’t have to believe Bianca was dead. He wouldn’t have to confront his feelings for Percy. That was Nico di Angelo in a nutshell; always running, a guy with an ambivalent relationship with the truth. 

But at that moment, sitting side-by-side with Will, honesty felt more like a necessity than a monster. Will looked so peaceful, with his eyes so, so, so blue and his hair so, so, so blonde and his skin so, so, so golden; he looked like a miracle. And as his hand slightly brushed against Nico and their shoulders touched, under the starry-eyed sky and the crescent moon, queen of all things to come, he felt like the truth, and Nico didn’t want to run away from him anymore, he wanted to _know._ He wanted to know if Will felt the same electric-shiver down his spine every time they touched. He wanted to know if Will wondered how it was to kiss him, too.

He _wanted_ honesty. 

Will looked at him (their eyes met).

“I’m glad you changed your mind. I wanted you to stay”, he said.

Nico glazed at the firmament above their heads (and so did Will, and their eyes met differently; the sky is the same for everyone).

“Here I am, then”, Nico whispered.

Will got closer, and their fingers touched (Nico’s skin met his, everything else in the world disappeared).

“Are you going to be here only for summer? Or all year?”

Nico scoffed. 

“All year. I don’t have another place to go.”

Will intertwined their fingers (Nico didn’t feel like pulling away).

“Me too. I mean, I’m staying all year. My mom is busy on tour.”

Nico fought back a smile.

“Cool”, what’s what he said. What he wanted to say: _I’m so happy to hear that I could combust in flames here and now._

The moon rose higher in the sky. They could still hear Hermes’ and Athena’s kids laughs.

“Come on, everyone!”, Chiron said, in his horse-form, “time to go to bed!”

Everyone made a collective _aaah!_ , but went to their cabins anyway. Will got up and offered his hand to help Nico got up too, and he accepted it.

“See you tomorrow at breakfast?”

“Yeah.”

Will smiled and Nico looked at it like he had never seen it before. 

“Bye, death boy.”

“How many times do I have to tell you-”

But Will was already joining his siblings going to his cabin.

Nico went to his own, and that night, when the nightmares came, he didn’t believe them for a second.

_**VIII**_.

Summer was gone in the same way it came; gradually, and then all at once. By the end of September, the number of campers had decreased considerably, and now only 15 kids could be seen at lunch.

The day Nico said bye to Piper, Jason, Percy and Annabeth hurt a little more than he thought it would. Piper and Jason decided to spend the school year with her dad, and Percy and Annabeth were staying in New York. They all crowded at the border of Camp, where mist met reality and hugged and made promises of staying safe, and Jason even cried after releasing Nico from a big, rib-breaking hug. He dried his tears under his glasses, and it was embarrassing to see that soldier of a boy, the closest demigod had from a superhero, crying like a baby, and Nico liked him even more for it. 

“I’m gonna miss you, dude”, he said, “stay safe, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And don’t forget to eat well and have 8 hours of sleep every night.”

“I’ll try.”

“And don’t overuse your powers, and maybe do weekly check-ins at the infirmary-”

“Jason, Nico is a big boy already", Piper said, "pretty sure he can take care of himself."

"I know", Jason sniffed, "is just that… they grow up so fast…"

"Nico di Angelo", Percy said, "you have the obligation of Iris-messaging me twice a week."

Nico stared at him.

"Yeah, I'm not taking orders from you."

"Dude, what? After all that we've been through?"

"Nop. You, specifically, are not hearing a peep from me during the year."

Percy looked disbelieved and Nico smiled smugly. That was his little revenge.

"You kind of deserve it", Annabeth said, laughing.

"But you will Iris-message us, right?", Piper asked, putting her arm around Jason's shoulders.

"Yes. Twice a week."

Percy opened his mouth to complain, but they heard a car horn. Sally's blue car stopped on the other side of the road.

"Gotta go", Annabeth said, and smiled at Nico, that smiled back, "see you."

Piper hugged him for the last time, and she whispered in his ear:

"Don't forget what I told you."

And just like that, they were off the road, leaving camp for their normal lives, and Nico felt a bit lonely, standing there watching his friends going into loving families.

"Hey", he heard someone calling, and then he felt a hand on his shoulder, "are they gone already?"

"Yeah", Nico answered, eyes still on the horizon.

"That's a shame. I wanted to thank Annabeth for the book she lent me."

"Didn't know you were the reading type."

"It was a biology book."

"Oh."

They stayed in silence for a while. 

"Hey", Will said, then, "come with me?"

"To where?"

"Surprise", Will smiled.

Nico hated surprises, and usually, he didn't trust people enough to take him blindfolded to places, but it was Will, and how could he ever deny him anything?

(Nico would let Will take him anywhere as long as he could hold his hand).

"Fine."

Will took his hand, and guided him back to camp (Nico tried to not think about the shivers in his spine), all the way into the sandy ground of the beach.

"Why did you bring me here?", Nico asked. He felt a little uneasy in the clarity of the sun, and the ocean was enemies with him, since it just couldn't stop reminding him of Percy.

"Look", Will pointed at the middle of the sea.

At first, Nico thought Will was messing with him, cause he didn't see anything, but then he heard. A sound he had never heard in real life; but anyone could recognize; and then he saw it, too, a bunch jumping in and out of the water, squirting water from the top of their heads.

"Dolphins!", Nico exclaimed. Will giggled.

"Yeah! I didn't even know there were dolphins around here this time of the year."

Nico watched them, enchanted, feeling like an excited little kid. He wasn't very attached to animals, in fact, animals usually hated him, but those mammals in the water were so beautiful he couldn't avoid it.

"Do you think they're the people Dionisious turned into dolphins?", Will asked. The breeze of the sea caught him, his curls flowing, and he looked like he was part of nature. 

Nico laughed.

"Nah, don't think so."

They watched together as the animals disappeared into the vast deep ocean, and Will's hand was still on Nico's wrist. 

"I love the beach", Will said. "It's always so clear and sunny."

Nico couldn't relate. Standing there, looking at the vastness of the ocean and at the brightness of the sky, he felt small. 

"I think everyone deserves to see something like this, at least once in their lives."

Nico looked at his boots, covered in sand. 

"Didn't know you were the beach type."

Will giggled.

"I can even surf a little", he confessed. "Not like Percy, but still."

 _Okay_ , Nico thought, _I sure have a type._

"I would pay to see that", Nico teased.

"Are you underestimating my surf abilities, di Angelo?"

"Never said that."

"My mom loved going to the beach in the summer. We visited my aunts and cousins, and they took us to a road trip to the beach. One of my cousins taught me how to surf", Will said, dreamily, like if he was trying to get back that feeling. He breathed in and out, and Nico watched his chest rose, filling his lungs. "I miss her."

"Is your mom always busy on tour?", Nico asked.

Will shrugged.

"Yes. She got pretty big in the country scene in the last few years. I'm happy for her, but… you know."

Nico didn't know, but he understood. 

"I don't remember anything from my mom", he said, "she died when I was, I don't know, five or six? And then all I had was Bianca", it still hurts to say her name, "but I remember somethings from Italy and I still can speak Italian. That's all."

Will nodded. 

"Sorry about Bianca", his voice was careful, gentle, like he knew that was a dangerous territory. "I don't think I ever got to say that."

"It's… it's fine, now. Mostly. It still hurts", he answered and he was surprised by how sincere his words were, "it's never going away, but some days are better, now." 

"I understand. I lost two siblings at the wars", Will said, and Nico felt his wave of grief hitting him like a car. "I think about them everyday. How I wish I could have saved them."

"You couldn't", Nico replied, and then noticed his tone was too harsh, and tried to soften it, "I mean… it was their time. There was nothing you could do to avoid their fates. Everyone has a time to go. Some deaths can't be avoided."

Will shifted uncomfortably, and suddenly he looked like he didn't know what to do with his hands.

"It's my job to save people", he whispered, and he looked so sad Nico wished he had the guts to hug him. 

"It's part of your job, too, to understand there are occasions you can't do anything about it. Sometimes, we need to let go."

Will stayed in silence, playing with the sand between his feet fingers in his flip flops. 

"I suppose you're right", he said, "but it still hurts."

"I know. But it's okay. They are resting, now."

Will looked at him, his brows furrowed, and Nico knew that look from his time in the infirmary: it was the face he used when he was trying to find out what was wrong with someone, thinking about the right medicine to use. 

"Death is so casual to you", he said, like Nico was a question in a test he couldn't remember the answer, "I can't imagine that. Death is something I work very hard to avoid, and yet being around you made me see it as something more natural. Something to accept it. It's conflicting."

"It is part of nature", Nico shrugged, "all mortal things die. We should be more understanding of it, since it's our inevitable fate and everything. It took a long time to accept it, too."

"You're wiser than you think, death boy. It's not for everyone to accept the cruel casualty of death."

 _It cost me many things,_ Nico thought, _I had to lose my sister and part of myself in the process._

“We should head back”, he said to Will, “it’s almost night time.”

“Wait”, Will took his hand again, “let’s stay a little longer and watch the sunset.”

The sunset was as gorgeous as it could be. The shades of the sky turned pink and then orange and then a light red, then greyish, and the clouds crowded around the star-king to put him to sleep. The sea got calmer, too, and Nico felt peaceful. 

In a few moments, the sun was gone, but Will Solace was still there.

 _He's the sun_ , Nico thought. He wanted to say it, but he didn’t. Instead, he just looked at Will, at his sunshine colored hair and skin and at his celestial-blue eyes. Will looked at him back, smiling. _You're the sun_ , Nico thought again, cause his smile was enough to make the day start over again, with a beautiful, golden morning.

"I kinda like you, di Angelo. And I know you kinda like me too, even if you don't say it”, Will said, his fingers brushing Nico’s hand.

Nico didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t formulate a sentence to say. So he decided there are things words can’t express, and so he leaned in and kissed Will Solace.

And when Will kissed him back, he felt like he wouldn’t have to run away ever again.

_**IX**_.

“So you’re saying”, Will said, when they were laying down on Nico’s bed on Cabin 13, “all this time, you liked me back, and I wasn’t pining over a straight boy?”

“Yeah, sort of”, Nico smiled. It still didn’t feel real. “I thought I was the one pinning over a straight boy.”

Will's face brightened up in a laugh, and it was almost like Cabin 13 wasn’t the most depressing place ever.

“Dude, how did you even think I was straight? I mean, look at me. What about me says straight?”

Nico got closer to him, cuddling up to his chest. He could hear Will’s heartbeat. He was alive, human, and warm.

“I didn’t exactly think there were people about me here”, Nico explained, “in the 40s, it was a terrible secret. I felt like I still had to hide it.”

Will hugged him, and his arms around Nico’s waist felt nice.

“Well, you don’t. It’s okay. Did you know Clarisse La Rue is bi? Connor Stool, too. Kayla is a lesbian. Nyssa is non-binary. I could list many more, but you got the point.”

Nico remembered what Piper said. _There are more queer kids here than you think._

“What about you?”, Nico asked.

“Huh?”

“What’s your sexuality?”

“Oh. Hm, I don’t label my sexuality. I kind of like everyone. At the moment, I would say I’m nicosexual.”

Will gave him a stupid smile and Nico wanted to punch him in the face for being stupidly adorable even when he was making stupid jokes.

“You’re an idiot”, Nico said, rolling his eyes , but he was smiling.

“And you adore me”, he muffled Nico’s hair, “what about you?”

Nico breathed in, breathed out.

“I’m gay.”

When these words first came across Nico’s, he was 10. He panicked, and quickly brushed away the thought. That was wrong, and sinful, and gross. When he thought about saying those words out loud, he expected looks of disgust. He expected people to get away from him as quickly as possible, to hate him, to call him all those words he used to hear people like him getting called. He expected the shamefulness, the guilty. That was the first time he was saying those words out loud.

And he didn’t get any of that. Instead, Will just nodded.

Nico felt the urge to kiss him. So he did. 

Will tasted exactly how he looked like; something warm and breezy, like a summer afternoon. He kissed Nico back intendedly, tightening the grip of his arms around his waist. The feeling of his skin made Nico dizzy; his breath on his neck tickled in the best ways possible.

“Hey, Nico - ah, wow.”

The two of them separated so quickly Nico felt like he was about to shadow travel. Rachel Dare was standing in the front door of the cabin, her curly red hair falling in front of her face. She had surprise on her eyes, but she just smiled playfully.

“Hm, hi, Rachs. We were just… huh…”, Will stuttered.

“Oh, you two, just wait till the Aphrodite’s cabin finds out they were right”, she grinned.

Nico widened his eyes.

“You’re not gonna tell anyone, are you?”

She threw her hands in the air.

“Hey, I’m the Oracle. The only things that come out of my mouth are prophecies. Anyway, I was actually looking for both of you. The meeting of the cabin’s counselors is about to start.”

“Okay”, Nico said, sitting in his bed, “we’ll be there in a sec.”

Rachel’s eyes glowed knowingly. 

“I’ll just tell Chiron you two were busy with the cabin’s decoration.”

And she left. Nico didn’t know how embarrassed he was till she was gone, but suddenly he felt his face burning up, and he knew he was blushing intensely by the way Will looked at him.

“Next time, we close the door”, Nico stated, and very seriously stared at Will, that very seriously, stared back. Then they both burst out laughing.

“Come on, death boy”, Will said, offering his hand to help Nico get out of the bed, “let’s go.”

“Don’t call me death boy.”

“I’ll call my boyfriend anything I want.”

Nico froze still for a moment. _Boyfriend_. The word tasted weird on his tongue.

“Your boyfriend”, Nico echoed. Will raised his eyebrows.

“I can call you that, right?”

Nico smiled.

“Yeah. Guess you can.”

So they held hands, and went together to the big house.

The sky around Camp-Half blood was grey, and probably there was a storm coming, but as usual, bad weather didn’t affect them. Nico was sure, now, that maybe that had something to do with Will Solace himself.

“You’re the sun”, he whispered under his breath before they entered the reunion. Will didn’t hear it, but at least he said. 

Nico no longer hated the heat of it.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated! let me know what you thought


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